Bhutan Diaries : Phobjikha

Soooo I was planning to do my Bhutan posts in a west-to-east order, but I was really dying to tell you about Phobjikha, my favouritest of the lot, so I decided to drop that plan!

After landing in Paro, we drove to Thimphu, about an hour away. We spent a couple of days there, and then drove to Phobjikha, an insanely gorgeous glacial valley in central Bhutan. The drive was pretty bumpy, and took about 8 hours, but it was an experience in itself – on that one day alone, we saw more beauty than we’d seen ever before!

The stupas at Dochula Pass

We drove through two gorgeous high mountain passes – the first was the Dochu La Pass at 3100 meters. 108 little stupas stand at the pass, commemorating the successful eviction of Northeast Indian insurgents by Bhutanese forces. The cafe up there is an awesome place to enjoy a cup of tea with a view. We actually ran into a Bhutanese Rajnikanth fan there! It made us realize once again, how well the Bhutanese know India. From Bollywood music playing in cars and cafes to Indian food even in remote towns, India’s influence on the tiny kingdom is really visible. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing?

The cafe at Dochula

Shortly after we crossed Dochula, it started raining, and continued to rain almost all day. The entire route was wet and misty and incredibly beautiful.

The rain thinned down to a light drizzle by the time we reached Lowala Pass, the entrance to Phobjikha. At an altitude of 3360 meters, with the clouds and the valley far below, and surrounded by yaks and rhododendrons, it was the most picturesque stretch in the entire drive.

Lowala Pass

Lowala Pass

Since we still had a little daylight left, we went straight to Gangtey, a little village overlooking the valley. It is home to a beautiful monastery called the Gangtey Gompa. We were lucky to be there during a festival – the huge crowd gathered there was singing together and a masked dance was going on. The spiritual head of the monastery was going around blessing everyone. The village is really charming too, with traditional Bhutanese wood houses and gorgeous views all around.

Quite exhausted after a long but most EPIC day, we headed to the Gaikiling Guesthouse where we’d be spending the night. And look at the awesomeness that was waiting for us:

The Gaikiling Guesthouse

Our wonderfully cozy room

The view from our room

Where we had breakfast the next morning

Like I mentioned, Phobjikha is a glacial valley, which means, eons ago, a glacier flowed through it, carving it into the wide U-shape that it has today. During winter, black necked cranes come visiting from Tibet, and the monastery in Gangtey holds a special festival to celebrate their arrival. That’s about all there is to ‘sightsee’. But the real reason you should go to Phobjikha is to soak up the jaw-dropping natural beauty all around, disconnect from the world (Phobjikha is so remote, it didn’t even have electricity until recently), and go on long, stunning hikes.

We only had time for a short hike called the Gangtey Nature Trail, but I know for sure that if I ever return to Bhutan, I’ll skip everything else and go straight to Phobjikha. After Phobjikha, we drove deeper into central Bhutan, to our next destination, Trongsa. But that’s another story for another post 🙂

Your posts are so intriguing that I have dropped all work (egad, I am in office and people think I am working!!!) and reading your Bhutan posts hoping no one is spying on my schedule! ;pYou have made Bhutan magical for me and now I guess I WILL end up going to this amazing abode. Every post stitches the story together so well and of course gets a few of us glued to no redemption! 🙂Moving on to Paro now…